Un-chef-sessful

I'm going to take a moment to rant about last week's Top Chef finale. 

Top Chef is one of the few competition reality shows that I watch. It was the first of several skill-based competition shows that Bravo attempted to launch following the success of Project Runway (including the awful The Fashion Show that replaced Runway after it departed for Lifetime). But unlike Top Design and Work of Art, Top Chef is actually good and has lasted for 10 seasons.

Here's what's good about the show. The "cheftestants" are genuinely talented. These men and women can cook amazing dishes in a short amount of time, something that would challenge even the most seasoned chefs (as spinoff Top Chef Masters has shown). Each episode begins with a short quickfire challenge that requires the cheftestants to think and cook quickly on their feet. Much of the rest of the episode focuses on a big challenge and shows the cheftestants deciding on their menu, shopping for ingredients, and preparing their food. Near the end, after the judges and guests have tasted all of the dishes, the judging takes place. Some seasons have had more drama among the chefs than others, but that doesn't seem to matter. It's a successful formula whether the show has fighting personalities and a villain that everyone "loves to hate" or if all the chefs compete in a respectful rivalry.

Season 10 was particularly strong and featured a lot of talented competitors. So what went wrong with the finale? Well, everything. First, the finale was taped live in front of a gallery of more than 100 diners, including all previous Top Chef winners and members of the two finalists' families. Instead of seeing Kristen and Brooke, the two finalists, decide on their menu and then cook, we spent a lot of time watching the gallery, meeting their families, and sitting through a video retrospective of each of their experiences that season. (Thank you, but we're watching the finale because we've already watched this season.) As a result, we saw very little of what each finalist was cooking until it was served. And with that, one of the show's biggest strengths was left out of the final showdown.

The other big piece that was ruined—the competition. Typically, the judging begins after all dishes have been served and tasted. But in the finale, the judges had to pick their favorite dish after each round, and the first chef to win three rounds would be named the overall winner. After the first three rounds, Kristen was leading two wins to Brooke's one. When the judging began for round four, a quick check of the clock revealed that there was not enough time remaining for another round. And just like that, before the judges uttered a word, it was obvious that Kristen would be declared Top Chef. And so, my enthusiasm dried up like specks of culinary foam left under a heat lamp.

In the end, there was just one thing that made me happy. You know that feeling you get when you're upset about something, that it would be nice to know you're not alone? I googled "Top Chef finale." I'm not alone.